Medicinal Plant Spotlight: Vitex rotundifolia (Beach Vitex) - Seaview, Lower Puna, Far East Big Island, Hawai'i - July 26, 2022

Warm greetings all! 🙏 💚

Two significant things happened yesterday; one felt great, the second quite the opposite. One, I finally identified a plant that has been growing in the garden since I arrived here at The Sanctuary of The Blue Dragon, in Lower Puna, far East Big Island of Hawai'i. The second thing I'm quite hesitant to even mention, as this is not the community or the post for it, and because it hit me so hard. I'm not at all in a good mental-emotional place at the moment, I'm not very functional, and I feel like my world is spinning. I may post about what happened and what I'm experiencing in a more appropriate community and post. That expressed, however, to give myself a positive focus in this exceedingly challenging time, I want to talk about the other, really cool event.

This plant that you see in the photos below, has perplexed me as to what it actually is, for many months now. I could tell to what it was related, but not what it was.

One comment from someone, describing the plant in the garden, and mentioning the name 'vitex', put me into research mode. When I first heard that name, I dismissed it, as I was aware of the genus Vitex, and all the species I knew were trees, not trailing, spreading decumbent shrubs, with branches that root when they touch the ground, as this plant in the garden had.

After reviewing a great many Vitex species, I came upon my plant!

👇👇👇

Botanical Name:
Vitex rotundifolia 

Common Vernacular Names:
beach vitex/round-leaved chaste tree/single-leaf chaste tree/chasteberry/monk's pepper

Lamiaceae family 

Viticoideae subfamily

Native Range:
Much of the Pacific Rim, including many Pacific islands. 

Most of this plant's notable and ancient medicinal uses focus on women and and the female reproductive system. It seems to stimulate a more regular and balanced menstruation, helps with menstrual cramps, as well as stimulating both fertility and milk production, though it should not be used when women becomes pregnant, or when they are nursing. It also seems to have a beneficial effect on women's experience of menopause. It (and it's relatives) gets its vernacular names, chaste tree or chasteberry, since it also seems to be an anti-aphrodisiac. I'll be adding it to my list of plants that I use in my medicinal teas for the women in my life just before, and when, they begin to bleed, to help make this time more gentle and easeful.

This plant is actually a prostrate shrub, or small tree, that grows along the ground, rooting wherever the trailing branches hit the soil. Because of this characteristic of rooting when its branches touch the ground, it not only can spread quite quickly in suitable environments, but it's also very easy to propagate.

While it is most adapted to sandy beach conditions, it is surprisingly adaptable, growing just fine in the garden here, and in others where I've seen it. The seeds are able to travel with the ocean currents, hence it's spread over a good chunk of the Pacific Rim.

A close up of the leaves from above.

A close up of the silvery underside of the leaves.

A view of some new flowers.

A closer view of the open flower.

A view of the immature fruit, or drupes. They will mature to a brownish-blaxl color.

A shot of its branches, that run along the ground and trail over other planes, rooting as they go. It's escaping its planting bed here.

I may be a mental-emotional mess today, but my love and passion for plants is strong, and assists me at this in this time of immense unknowns. I truly do hope that my plant and garden friends here find this post interesting and useful.

Thank you all so much who have helped me get to where I am today, and allowing me to share more of the beauty and magic from my life and my world with you, and for your continuous appreciation and support! I am truly deeply grateful! 😁🙏💚

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